Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy

Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of natural and social philosophy. It serves those who see philosophy's vocation in questioning and challenging prevailing assumptions about ourselves and our place in the world, developing new ways of thinking about physical existence, life, humanity and society, so helping to create the future insofar as thought affects the issue. Philosophy so conceived is not exclusively identified with the work of professional philosophers, and the journal welcomes contributions from philosophically oriented thinkers from all disciplines.

‘Cosmos’ and ‘History’ are both Greek words. ‘Cosmos’, which originally meant ‘order’, came to mean ‘the ordered structure of the universe’. ‘History’, which originally meant ‘investigation’, came to mean an account of human actions and the causes of conflicts. Systematic speculation on the cosmos and the effort to produce objective histories emerged together in a society where, perhaps for the first time, people reflected impartially on themselves and their world and took responsibility for the future. Yet a tension emerged between Greek cosmology and Greek history. With the Pythagoreans who argued that the order in nature is mathematical, the notion of cosmos as a timeless structure, crystallized. History, being concerned with human actions and the rise and fall of individuals and cities, was clearly about that which is not permanent. The tension between cosmology, conceiving the cosmos as an immutable, timeless order, and history, concerned with actions, intentions, conflicts and the rise and fall of individuals and communities, has been at the core of virtually all intellectual and political oppositions throughout the history of European civilization. What is required is a combination of natural and social philosophy, transcending all disciplinary boundaries, concerned with the fundamental issues of understanding the cosmos and our place within it as historical agents. Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, provides a forum for advancing this understanding. It provides a focus to revive that unlimited interrogation of our cultural heritage introduced by the Ancient Greeks required for us to create the future. The journal encourages contributions from philosophically oriented thinkers from all disciplines.